From Television, to Movies, Pop-culture, and New York living ... Enriching your life for 3 minutes of the day

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Vh1's Single Ladies: Put a Ring on it?

So I took a look today at the much talked about new drama series Single Ladies. As the story goes, this was originally to be a 1-shot movie, but it tested well and people fell so in love with the characters that they wanted to see what happened next in their lives ... Far be it from Vh1 to ever deny the people what they want, so here we are. The question is then - "does it live up to expectations?" Yes. No. and Yes.

Starring Stacey Dash("Queen Perfection") as Val, Single Ladies is about a mature group of girlfriends and their adventures in love, set in the upscale and affluent black community of Atlanta. It's got all the "men did me wrong" cliches that you can see coming a mile away, but instead of flat out "victimizing" the women and "villainizing" the men in their lives, it shows the dirt that Dash and her girl-crew do, played by the also gorgeous LisaRaye and Charity Shea, with the ladies then trying to clean up the messes they helped to create. Although this doesn't "set it apart" from other shows, it definitely makes the trio much more endearing, and thus the show more watchable.

Executive produced by Queen Latifah, Single Ladies is absolutely "Sex & the City meets The Real Housewives of Atlanta". You can see EXACTLY where the show later chopped and edited the end to "resolve" a storyline that wouldn't have worked in series, and re-shot to leave other parts open-ended, enticing viewers to come back for more.

Is it all cheesy? You bet. There are scenes where the dialogue is forced and borderline painful. But Single Ladies doesn't take itself WAY too seriously, which works in its favor and makes it more fun overall. The women's careers are closely interwoven with fashion, music, and Hollywood, which gives them a TON to play with. The guest stars and cameos like Eve, Chilli, Common, Cam'ron, and Lauren London, were rolling out like there was no tomorrow ... Which, I guess, there wasn't originally PLANNED to be!

In an Oprah-less world, and the classic soaps now a thing of the past, this is the perfect time for this show to emerge. Women will love it, and if they can continue to do the "Entourage-thing" and have guest stars regularly dipping in and out, especially playing themselves, the show could really be something for Vh1.